ANCHORAGE, Alaska—The lawyer for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has begun questioning witnesses who potentially could testify against her in a probe of whether she abused her public office by firing the state public safety commissioner.

The Associated Press learned Thursday night that at least two of the potential witnesses were questioned by the attorney for Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

The pre-emptive tactic gives the governor a distinct advantage in the controversy because it means that she already knows at the outset the detailed accounts of potential witnesses against her.

The questioning conducted on Aug. 26 and Aug. 28 comes amid a move by the governor's attorney to stymie a legislative investigation of Palin.

In one of the depositions, Palin lawyer Thomas Van Flein questioned gubernatorial aide Frank Bailey, who on Tuesday refused to testify to the legislative investigation of the governor.

Van Flein wants the state personnel board to conduct the probe, not the legislature. The board members are gubernatorial appointees.

The legislature launched a probe of Palin in July after former safety commissioner Walt Monegan said he felt pressured by the governor's office to fire a state trooper involved in a messy divorce with Palin's sister.

In 2005, before Palin ran for office, she and her husband, Todd, claimed the trooper, Mike Wooten, threatened to kill Sarah Palin's father. Wooten was suspended over the allegations for five days in 2006 but still has his job. The Palin family also accused Wooten of drinking beer in his patrol car, illegally shooting a moose and firing a Taser at his 11-year-old stepson.

The depositions of Bailey and Michael Monagle, a state manager with the workers' compensation division, were released to The Associated Press by Palin's lawyer, Van Flein.

In the depositions, Bailey says that the governor never asked him to do anything regarding Wooten. Palin and her husband, said Bailey, expressed "serious genuine concern about not only their safety but the safety of their family, their kids, their nieces, nephews, her father, regarding trooper Wooten." Bailey's answers to Van Flein's questions were consistent with the account Bailey told The AP last month.

Monagle said that in regard to the controversy, there were rumors on the Internet that the governor or her office had requested Wooten's workers' compensation file.

"Absolutely not" true, said Monagle, who said that the file is "in my office in a locked file cabinet" for safekeeping.

After providing the depositions to The AP, Van Flein said the two "have no reason to lie; they have been consistent in their statements. Why would they jeopardize themselves over something as inconsequential as this?"

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